Husky produced first oil at the Spruce Lake Central thermal project in Saskatchewan and is moving towards startup of Liuhua 29-1 field at the Liwan gas project, offshore Pearl River Mouth basin in the South China Sea about 300 km south east of Hong Kong (OGJ Online, Apr. 20, 2020).
Spruce Lake Central, Husky’s sixth 10,000-b/d thermal bitumen project since 2015, has been completed safely, on schedule, and on budget. It began steaming in second-quarter 2020 and will ramp up to full production over the next couple of months.
Husky’s Saskatchewan thermal projects are directly linked to its Lloydminster upgrader, asphalt refinery, and Midwest US refineries, with access to secured pipeline capacity and ample storage. The projects are not subject to the government-mandated production quotas that remain in place in Alberta.
Offshore China, Husky and partner CNOOC tied in Liuhua 29-1 field at the Liwan gas project ahead of schedule and below budget. First production and gas-liquids sales are expected to start by November. Target production is 45 MMcfd of gas and 1,800 b/d of liquids when fully ramped up, reflecting Husky’s 75% working interest plus exploration cost recovery volumes.